The present invention generally relates to a call processing device and more specifically to a call processing device for taking actions corresponding to call information received through a telephone network.
As society becomes increasingly mobile, it becomes increasingly difficult to reach a person who is constantly traveling or not near their telephone. Thus, important calls that require immediate responses may be missed. Consequently, a person who is traveling or not near their telephone may want calls to their home or work extension forwarded to where they are presently located. Therefore, any important calls to that individual are not missed.
One method of call forwarding includes using a star code to forward calls from a phone. A user enters a star code using the phone located at the original location and subsequently enters a forwarding number where calls to the original location should be forwarded. Once the code is entered, all calls to the original location will be forwarded to the forwarding number entered. Although calls to the original location are forwarded, the star code does not enable any other intelligent features or any processing of the calls received at the forwarding location.
Other options have become available that users have become increasingly dependent. For example, caller ID has become prevalent in today's phone networks. Caller ID displays the phone number and identity of an incoming phone call. A caller ID box detects caller ID information after a ring voltage is sent to a telephone. The caller ID box then displays the incoming phone number and information associated with that number such as the calling party's name, etc. Caller ID may be helpfull for identifying the person calling; however, the caller ID box does not process caller ID information. It just displays the information for the phone call.
Additionally, if calls are being forwarded to a number, a caller ID box may be used to identify the phone number of the incoming call. However, there is no way to tell who the call is for and if the call is a forwarded call for the original location or for the location where the calls are being forwarded.